A Fundamental Problem

I’m disturbed and disgusted to even write this piece. But before I go into my thoughts, I’m going to let you sit and stare at the picture for a second. As I spend the next couple of hundred words getting my message out, I want you to think about this picture and let it sit in your head.

This news has been going around for a while now, and I didn’t really want to talk about it. I saw the picture and it pissed me off. I saw the headline, but I didn’t want to open any articles or watched any videos talking about it because I knew that it would make me feel angrier. I finally did a few hours ago, and I was right. It made me very angry. It hurt like hell, and it pissed me off to the core.

As I write this, I know what I want to say, but I can’t say how they will come out. That being said, if I use an excess amount of profanity in this post, deal with it. If you follow me, you know how I am and how I write, and this particular post doesn’t warrant any of your sensitive eyes/hearing little cries. After all, if you’re more offended by my choice of words than the picture of an eight-year-old child with an injury from being hanged, then you’re part of what’s wrong with this fucked up society. So, I will not apologize.

To be honest with you, I’m lost for words. I really don’t know what to say. I’m not going to blame this shit on the current political climate that’s further polarized by an idiot sitting in the Oval Office, because it’s much deeper than that (although he feed into it and fueled the flames). This is a purely organic and fundamental issue that’s like a cancer in our society. It’s a deeply rooted mindset that is carried on and inherited. It’s cultivated. It’s part of centuries of hatred that can’t (or won’t) seem to be unlearned.

It’s one thing when you see adult minorities getting targeted by the bigoted-diseased rodents of our society, with their mouths dripping with the foul-smelling saliva of hatred. But when you have kids going to the extreme of putting a fucking noose around a young child and hang him, while teenagers who should’ve been responsible enough to put a stop to it but only watched, that’s a whole different problem. These bastards left this poor kid out to die. If you don’t understand how this is an example of everything that is wrong with this society, then you got a fucking problem. For the ones who still think that racism isn’t a problem in this country, get out of your bullshit world, open your eyes, and see it for what it is.

This child, who is biracial, didn’t deserve this. It doesn’t matter if he’s biracial or not, nobody deserves to be treated this way. Thank God this child managed to get himself free and survived, but he will undoubtedly be scarred for life because so something that most people thought died out decades ago.

Interestingly enough, this didn’t take place in some backwoods town in the South, where the Confederate flag waves proudly and everybody looks at anyone who isn’t white like they are the sickness of the world. This took place in a place that is as North as North can get, in New Hampshire. Hell, I only met one person from New Hampshire in my entire life, and she was a mountain white girl who was pretty cool with me. So I was a little shocked; however, I wasn’t too surprised, since my first direct experience with racism was in upstate New York. That’s food for thought for all the people who think that this shit is mostly confined to the South. Well, obviously it’s not.

Look, I know my opinion here doesn’t mean a damn to some of you. I know that some of you will still think that things aren’t so bad. I know there are a few of you that will even find a way to blame the little boy. I don’t give a damn if you don’t like what I have to say, or sitting behind your computer and phones critiquing what I’m saying. But my question to you is when will you finally realize that enough is enough, and get rid of this cancer that we call American racism?

How can we call ourselves the beacon of freedom and being right when our own country is contaminated by the fog of ignorance and bigotry? How can we call ourselves the champion and defender of human rights when we have some of the biggest human rights violations right here?

Am I optimistic about the future of our country? To be perfectly honest, no. How can I be? How can I be optimistic when I turn on the news or check my phone I see white nationalists going around spewing messages of hate louder and louder, with more people starting to hear and believe them? I can’t be optimistic when I hear about a young kid who nearly died at the hands of young versions of white supremacists.

I said what I had to say at this point. Take it easy, everyone. Pray for this country.

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Published by JB Burrage

I'm a Meridian, Mississippi native, and proud Army veteran. I currently live somewhere in the great metropolis of Atlanta, because I wanted to be close to home while still being close to pretty city buildings and lights. Oh...also so I could finally set up shop somewhere, and Atlanta was the perfect place to set up while still living in the South. As a creative writer, I'm using this blog/website as an outreach for the promotion of my various work, such as books and plays, as well as address mental health issues. I'm also running a company called The Mad Writer Project, LLC, which publishes and develop my various work.
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